


Surname, please.

by haeppinesshyuck



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: '00 line are bestfriends, Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan (NCT) - Freeform, M/M, MY FAVE, Mark Lee (NCT) - Freeform, NCT Dream - Freeform, Sweet, Tags Are Hard, also slight johnten if u look for it, how do i tag lmao, markhyuck, nct 127, nct markhyuck, slight norenmin if u squint, soulmate!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-09-29 18:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17208467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haeppinesshyuck/pseuds/haeppinesshyuck
Summary: Soulmate!au where their last name appears on your wrist at a random point in time.





	1. 1

When Donghyuck first found out about the whole soulmate thingy, his six year old self was beyond joyful. Thoughts of getting on journeys, traveling just to find your soulmate, or if you're lucky, your other half has been there with you all the time and you won't have to go through the process of finding them excites him the most. Love and fate is really a wonderful thing, huh?

  
But in a country where half of the population shares the same surname, it's kinda hard, really.

  
Well, he hadn't given it much thought anyways. He's just patiently waiting for the day for something to appear on his wrist. Some of his friends had gotten it early, like his Youngho hyung, even Jisung who's younger than him. He's not exactly rushing to know whom he's destined to, there's still a lot of time and he knows, it'll appear soon, he just has to wait.

  
~

  
Donghyuck woke up feeling exhausted and sweaty because of the dream he just had. He dreamt of a stranger, a guy he presumes, but he's awfully familiar for some reason. He just can't quite put a finger on it but he knows he's familiar.

  
Anyways, its not a big deal so he lies down again, knowing that he still have a few minutes to spare and sleep is important more than anything else. But as soon as he closes his eyes, that's when his alarm started ringing very loudly.

  
So in a very annoyed manner, he got up and grabbed his things to get ready for the day. He wants to take the bathroom first before his roommate because who knows how long his roommate takes to get ready. Donghyuck thinks he admires himself in their bathroom mirror every morning because hello, why not start the day with a good pep talk to yourself?

  
Pft.

  
The tanned boy likes to start his day in a peaceful manner, humming Red Velvet's songs under his breath while showering and doing his daily skincare routine. It's this time of the day where silence is ultimately pleasing to him, the sun's rays filtering through the small bathroom window and giving off a warm vibe and its just him and his reflection on the huge mirror.

  
But when he was brushing his teeth, he notices something black on his wrist. He took a closer look and that's when he shrieks.

  
"Shit." Is what he ends up saying.

  
On his wrist, right beside his pulse, is Lee, written on black ink.

  
He had to blink several times just to make sure it's there, that he's not dreaming because if he is, then he'd be really disappointed. He even tried to rub it, to erase it, just to see if its his roomate trying to play a prank on him but, its still there. 

Donghyuck may or may not have shed a tear or two before running to his roommate's room. He has to share the wonderful news, and he doesn't care if he's still sleeping. He didn't even knock, just straight up went to shake the poor boy until he wakes up.

  
"Jeno! Wake up, I have something to tell you!" Donghyuck jumps on his bed, almost stepping on Jeno's thigh. "The mark! I have my mark!"

  
"Congratulations," Jeno raises his hand up to give him a high five, "but I still don't have mine so can we just please sleep." He requests, voice still laced with sleepiness.

  
"Aren't you happy for me?! Now here I am thinking you were my bestfriend and all," Donghyuck starts standing up slowly. "Whatever, cook your own breakfast, Lee Jeno."

  
As soon as he says his full name, he stops. Like, dramatically stops and slowly turned around to look back at his roommate who is now sitting up from the mention of breakfast.

  
"Alright, alright, I'm up Hyuck." Jeno smiles, his famous eye smile coming into view. "Aren't you waking up a little too early for today whose class starts at 11?"

  
Donghyuck shakes his ahead, a little taken aback from his own, sudden thought but he decides to shake it off and think about it later. "No, its a Tuesday. My class starts at 8."

  
"It's a Tuesday?!"

  
"Uh, yeah. I literally just said it's a Tuesday."

  
Jeno dramatically sighs, "my class starts at 8 too, Mr. Moon,"

  
Donghyuck laughs, "good luck at staying awake, sleepyhead." He ushers Jeno out of the room after, "now go and shower, you stink."

  
Lee, huh? Donghyuck thinks to himself.

  
By the time he's finished cooking and now that the two of them are on their way to university for their 8 am classes, Donghyuck couldn't stop thinking about his soulmate.

  
He's determined to meet him soon.

  
But there are approximately 6 million of Koreans with the surname Lee, how the hell can he find his damn soulmate? He groans, this is harder than he thought.

  
~

  
"What you're saying is," Renjun starts, taking a sip from his iced coffee. "Is that your mark appeared this morning and you think its Jeno?" His Chinese friend holds up his wrist to study his mark closely.

  
Donghyuck splutters, "I didn't say it was Jeno, it's just that-"

  
"But you do think it's him?" Jaemin looks up from his book, smirking a little just to annoy him. "Ohhh maybe he really is?"

  
He gives him a dirty look, "shut up Jaemin and go back to your book."

  
Jaemin stucks his tongue out and successfully avoids the binder Donghyuck's thrown his way.

  
"You do realize that even though I'm wearing earphones I can still hear you guys," Jeno gives his group of friends a funny look, the one that makes Jaemin crack up in laughter uncontrollably, just like right now.

  
Jeno closes his laptop and faces Donghyuck, his face on his hands as he talks, "you know I don't mind being your soulmate, you're aware of that, right? But as far as I remember, based from Youngho hyung's story, his soulmate and him got their marks on the same day," he makes the action of raising up his wrist, "and I don't have mine. Nothing appeared today when I woke up."

  
Donghyuck sighs in distraught, he shouldn't be really stressing about over this. He's too young and too beautiful to be stressed.

  
"Hey," Jaemin pokes his pen at his arm, "when your mark appears, you start having these dreams to help you know them, Hyuck. I heard that from my parents. Even Jisung has those dreams and he kind of keeps them in track."

  
"Is that why I dreamt of a guy this morning? I couldn't see his face though, what a shame."

  
Renjun rubs his back, an act he always does when he can feel the younger is somewhat stressed. Thank God for Renjun, Donghyuck thinks, if its just Jaemin and Jeno he'd be stressed ten times more than he is now.

  
"You didn't know?"

  
Donghyuck smiled sheepishly, a bit embarrased from his lack of knowledge about this whole soulmate thing. "Oh yeah, it's not Jeno. The guy I dreamt of looks really cool though, like he's literally oozing charisma, swear. And Jeno's like, the most uncool person in Korea," he shrugs.

  
Jeno gives him a hurt expression, "hey, remember, you kissed 'the most uncool person in Korea' back in middle school so," he shrugs back at him.

  
Donghyuck rolls his eyes, "you would never really live that down, will you?"

  
"I won't. And expect that I'd bring it up in the future if I have to."

  
Soon, all four of them are engrossed in their own worlds, too busy to even talk about each other's lives. Even Donghyuck forgot about his mark, he needed to pass Mr. Jung's class first, his soulmate, second.

  
The rest of the day passed quickly. Renjun, Donghyuck and Jaemin are in the library studying today's lectures since they don't have anything better to do, while Jeno goes to the airport to welcome his cousin whom he never heard of.

  
Donghyuck is nervous, to say the least. He's heard of some situations where the other half of the person doesn't love them back, they say it's rare, something about genetics or what, but what if it's him? He doesn't want to admit it but he's such a huge hopeless romantic, deep down his funny and savage persona there's this Lee Donghyuck who wants to be happy in love with his soulmate. And its not like he has a lot of experience with romance and relationships, he's dated only two guys in his life; Jeno, that was in middle school, okay. They thought it was a good idea. And the second one, a Chinese exchange student, Yukhei. That didn't work out well either, but at least they're good friends.

  
"I can feel a headache coming up," Jaemin mutters. "The numbers are starting to look like letters to me, I can't tell the difference between 8 and S."

  
"You need a break, you've been studying for an eternity."

  
Jaemin laughs silently, they're still in a library after all, "hey, Youngho hyung is coming here."

  
As soon as Donghyuck turns around, his view was blocked by a huge body, no other than his Youngho hyung. /Why is he so tall?/ He thought bitterly to himself, /he's at least one head taller than me.?/

  
"Hey," Youngho greets, taking the seat beside Donghyuck. "A little birdie told me you got your mark, Hyuck."

  
"I assume it's Jaemin."

  
The guy held his hands up in surrender, "hey, I was just thinking maybe hyung can help you in your dilemmma since you look really stressed about it. I'm just being a good friend," He shrugs and smiled innocently.

  
"Anyways," Youngho starts, "when I got mine I had these dreams every day and they only stopped when I got to meet my soulmate. Its really helpful, actually, so you better keep it in track, Hyuckie. Aww, our little Hyuckie has grown up!" Youngho ruffles his hair and soon Renjun is laughing at him.

  
Donghyuck looked closely at his older friend's wrist, looking for the mark, but who has a surname 'CL'?

  
"Huh? Your soulmate's last name is 'CL'?"

  
Youngho shakes his head, "no, your mark changes to the initials of your soulmate once you realized you two are destined or like you've created some sort of bond, I think."

  
The three of them looked at each other and nodded, why wasn't he oriented about all of these? He feels so stupid.

  
Donghyuck's phone started ringing loudly insude the library. "Oh shit, I forgot to put it on silent," he mutters. He excused himself from his friends and quickly went out of the library before the head librarian lectures him of the rules and regulations.

  
"Yeah?"

  
"I just called to remind you about my cousin coming from the airport today," Jeno speaks through the phone. "I wanted to remind you because we are on our way back to the apartment."

  
~

 

Two large suitcases welcomed him as soon as he opened the door to their apartment.

  
He looked around the area, looking for his roommate and his cousin. He heard laughter coming from their room and went there, but not before grabbing a snack from the fridge.

  
Donghyuck knocks first, before entering the room.

  
"You're here, Hyuck!" Jeno exclaims.

  
"Yeah, I've noticed."

  
His roommate rolls his eyes at him, "my cousin's in the washroom, he's excited to meet you," Jeno raises his eyebrows teasingly. Donghyuck made a face at him and sat down beside him on the bed.

  
"Jeno," he whines. "I'm so tired." He then tackles him into a hug until both of them are lying on the bed.

  
"Hey Jeno," someone spoke. "Oh, sorry."

  
Jeno sat up, "hey, get off me. I have to introduce you to my cousin," he pushes him away but Donghyuck is a stubborn person, so he didn't let go of him and instead, hugged him tighter and whines. "No, I'm tired."

  
He hears his cousin chuckling, "its fine, you can introduce us next time."

  
"Whatever," he detaches himself away from his roommate. "Hi, I'm Donghyuck!" He says, standing up from the bed and faces Jeno's cousin who's back is now facing him. "I'm Jeno's roommate, as you can see."

  
His cousin turns around and holy shit, Donghyuck thinks, why does this scene look so familiar? And Jeno didn't tell me his cousin is cute!

  
"Hi," he reaches out his hand. "I'm Mark."

  
He swears his heart stopped beating for a millisecond there. Not only is this guy cute but holy shit, he has a nice voice as well!

  
"Nice to meet you, and thank you for letting me stay here. I've heard a lot of nice things about you," Mark smiles.

  
Wow. This guy is on another level of beautiful, Donghyuck thinks.

  
Donghyuck can't help but smile as well, "its okay, at least there's someone who can help me taking care of Jeno because your cousin is a child." He ignores Jeno's disagreements in the background and grins at the newcomer.

  
"Uh, I can't cook, first of all," Mark scratches the back of his neck. "But I can help you with cleaning the apartment?"

  
"Oh, I was just joking, make yourself comfortable, besides this will be your home here anyway. We got to introduce you to our friends soon, right, Jeno?"

  
Jeno nods and gives them a thumbs up.

  
"Well, I have to go to my room now, call me if you guys need anything." He says, holding the doorknob. "It's nice meeting you, Mark!"

  
Once he entered his room, his hand went straight to his chest, right above the place where his heart is. Why is his heart beating so fast? And the scene earlier, it's strangely..familiar? But he just literally met the guy! Dropping his bag on the bed, Donghyuck noticed a box of his favorite treats. Smiling to himself, he yelled out a 'thanks' to Jeno and Mark.

  
Usually, Donghyuck likes to take a nap once he arrives from university, given that he's exhausted from all the information he's absorbed today. It's just that, the whole soulmates things is bothering him. He stared at the black ink on his wrist, the Lee placed there and the longer he looks, the more he gets stressed.

  
He decided to shrug off the topic for later and actually do some work. Pulling out his notes from today's lectures, he decided to rewrite them again because messy notes keeps on messing with his brain. It may not be obvious but Donghyuck is a pretty, smart student and he likes things to be organized in his own way.

  
He's so deep in thought and focused he didn't realize an hour has passed and there's Jeno sitting beside him, making him scream.

  
"God, Jeno, how long have you been there?"

  
His roommate chuckles, "it doesn't matter, by the way, Mark ordered dinner, you wanna eat?"

  
Donghyuck stood up, grabbing Jeno's arm in the process. "I never say no to free food you know- hey is your cousin that rich? He's not even here for a full day, literally he just arrived three hours ago and he has given me free food twice already."

  
"We split up the bill when we bought your favorite treats!" Jeno argued.

  
The smell of fried chicken filled the air and Donghyuck's stomach grumbles, making Mark look up at him, smiling a little from the sight of a blushing Donghyuck. Ever since he saw his cousin's roommate, he couldn't deny the fact that he is cute. Like, boyfriend cute, not brother cute type of way. He's gonna smack Jeno's head soon for not telling him that he has a cute roommate, out of all the important details he has to miss, he forgot to tell the most important one.

  
The dinner went by in a peaceful manner, the three talking about each other's lives. Mark and Jeno had a lot of catching up to do since apparently, its been five years since Mark last went to Korea. Of course they never let Donghyuck feel out of place, including him in their conversation every now and then. He founds out Mark is a year older than them and will be attending the same university as them and that he laughs a lot. Every time Donghyuck says something funny, or what Mark thinks is funny, his hand flies up to hit Jeno square on his arm. Kinda reminds him of a seal, but a cute seal at that.

  
Mark's laugh sounds melodious to his ears, he's decided that he doesn't mind to make a fool of himself if in exchange, he gets to hear that wonderful laugh. He's even close to saying that Mark's smile can beat Jaemin's smile, and that's telling something because Jaemin brags, and he has the right, for having the best smile.

  
Donghyuck sighs, he hadn't been able to talk to Mark personally yet, here he is, infatuation for the older slowly growing.

  
He shook his head and decided to focus at the task at hand. And that is washing the dishes. It's his turn for the day and Jeno's back in his room, helping his cousin fix his things.

  
Donghyuck sighs again, remembering that Mark is probably straight and most probably, has a girlfriend back in Canada.

  
Finishing his task, he dries his hand with a kitchen towel and after making sure that the sink is clean and clear, he's about to go back to his room before he yelps in shock, because Mark is standing near the fridge and almost gave Donghyuck a heart attack.

  
Okay, he's kidding in most cases but Donghyuck was so shocked he thinks he have to cut down with his daily caffeine intake.

  
"I'm sorry, did I shock you?" He laughs nervously, his hand scratching the back of his neck.

  
Donghyuck sighs, "how long have you been standing there? Oh, do you need anything?"

  
"Uh, not really. I was just- I mean, I -uh, I want to ask you something?"

  
Donghyuck nods unsurely, pointing at the seat nearest to Mark and sitting at the chair across it.

  
"Shoot."

  
"Well," Mark starts. "I'm not interfering or anything, but I noticed earlier you have something on your wrist?" The younger nods. "And I asked Jeno if you have a tattoo or like, something,"

  
"Oh alright, so you're talking about this?" He held his wrist up, showing the side of his wrist where the mark is. "It's not a tattoo, it's my soulmate's mark." He finishes with a smile.

  
"Why did you asked?"

  
Mark rubs his arm before raising his wrist as well and pointed at it. Donghyuck took a closer look and his eyes widened, looks back at Mark and his eyes darting back down to the other's wrist.

  
Written on Mark's wrist is the surname Lee.

  
Donghyuck fails to form a complete thought and instead, compares his own to Mark's. The writing are basically just the same, but are in different positions.

  
He looks back at Mark, and pulls his wrist away because they're so close to holding hands and Donghyuck's hands are itching to reach out so he took a preventive measure and sat back on his chair.

  
"6Its nice knowing someone that has the same mark as mine- and hey, let's see who gets to find their soulmate first!"

  
Mark smiles, his trip back to Korea surely is interesting, and Donghyuck's making it more fun.

  
~

During his first night back in Seoul, Mark dreams of sunflowers and the warmth of someone else's hand holding his.

  
He feels content.

~

  
Donghyuck tries to connect the pieces together; the sound of an acoustic guitar playing a simple, yet familiar tune and messy writings scribbled all over in a worn out notebook.

  
~

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year everyone!! Thank you for waiting for the part 2 🖤 the third and last part will be posted soon and pls bear with me!! I appreciate all your comments so much u have no idea how much it makes me happy to read them :>>>

Mark was already introduced to the rest of Jeno and Donghyuck's group of friends. He got along with them really well, he also met Youngho hyung and so far, everything is going good. He's liking the atmosphere, the people and Donghyuck. 

 

Mark's not even denying it. 

 

He's starting to really like the tanned boy. Donghyuck never fails to make him laugh or smile, he just finds everything he does amusing. 

 

Besides, he is an amazing cook, Gordon Ramley will surely approve his omelette. He's trying to get closer to Donghyuck, if his failed attempts at flirting goes unnoticeable by Donghyuck himself, their group of friends, especially Jaemin, doesn't let it pass.

 

("Hyuck's as dense as a rock," Jaemin tells him one day, when Donghyuck was still in one of his classes. "But he's loveable so I totally understand why you like him, just don't hurt our Hyuck or I swear to God Mark, you won't-"

 

"Hey, hey," Renjun chimes. "Stop threatening Mark, he's not yet even confessing to Hyuckie. You're scaring the poor boy," Renjun smiles at him. "Hyuck likes sunflowers, just want to let you know.")

 

Mark blushes at the thought. He's not really keen on everyone knowing his growing fondness for the boy, but at least they're giving a lot of helpful advice so Mark's not really complaining. 

 

~

 

If you leave Donghyuck alone with his thoughts, it usually results to him over thinking every situation. Or getting stressed for no apparent reason. 

 

But these days, he finds himself thinking about a certain someone - someone named Mark. 

 

Add that with his worry about his soulmate and he'll probably end up crying. Donghyuck feels like he's cheating on his soulmate - whom he still hasn't met, by the way, what a shame - even if he's not doing anything wrong. Why does their soulmate marks don't come along with their actual soulmate? Donghyuck groans, that'd be more easier for people. It'd lessen heartbreaks as well. 

 

"Hey."

 

He looks up and he ignores the momentarily stopping of his heart because holy shit, Mark is breathtaking. 

 

Mark looks awful, if you ask anyone (anyone besides Donghyuck). He just woke up, his hair looks like a bird's nest, there might be dried saliva on his face and nasty eye crusts and Donghyuck would still be in awe. 

 

"You okay?" Mark asks in English.

 

Donghyuck nods, heart beat getting impossibly faster. There's a faint smile in Mark's face and Donghyuck knows he's not inside a fairy tale dimension, but he can feel everything going into slow motion. There's just something about Mark that moment that makes him become fearless for once. He's not sure of what he's doing; why he's leaning in, for fuck's sake and why is Mark not backing away?!

 

"You have something on your face." 

 

He ruined their little moment when he muttered those words because Mark was quick and aggressively wiped his face with the back of his hand. Donghyuck had to bite the inside of his cheeks to stop smiling. 

 

The older clears his throat, "by the way, any news about your soulmate?" 

 

Since in their group of friends, Donghyuck and Mark are the only ones who have their soulmate's mark so they don't really have a choice but to talk to each other about things like this and help one another out. Youngho is busy with his studies while Jisung is still in highschool, it's not like they can randomly ask someone with a mark to help them out and ask for advice. 

 

"Eh," Donghyuck makes a face. "Other than the dreams I had, there's nothing really. You?"

 

"Same, I don't even know if the dreams are helpful."

 

They both stay silent afterwards, secretly enjoying each other's presence and liking the warmth the other emits.

 

Moments later, Donghyuck doesn't want to reflect about soulmates anymore and unconsciously held Mark's hand.

 

"Let's not mind our soulmates, yeah? We have a long time for that but now, let's meet Jeno in the ice cream shop?" Mark just nods, dumbfounded. The younger releases his hand and stood up and says something about getting his wallet or what but in reality, he's not listening.

 

That...that hand, the way Donghyuck held his hand...he's felt it before. He's certain it happened, not sure when and how but he knows he's felt that kind of warmth at least once. 

 

~

 

Mark couldn't sleep that night.

 

He's tried drinking milk, but he has drank three glasses already and he stopped before finishing the whole carton because Jeno would surely throw a fit tomorrow morning if they ran out of milk. He's tried listening to calming music and Mark's getting frustrated because he can't sleep. 

 

Instead, he sits up and grabs his worn out notebook and his favorite pen. He scribbles the word soulmate on top of the page in capital letters and proceeded to write the things that he have dreamt of so far. Youngho suggested that it was good to write it down and Mark feels the great need to follow the older's advice because he's met his soulmate already (so obviously, Mark considers him as an expert in this field). 

 

His eyebrows furrowed in wonder when he wrote omelettes because why in the world would be cooked eggs related to whoever his soulmate is? 

 

There was a scenario in one of his dreams where he can remember someone leaning in his shoulder and they were sharing earplugs. Mark's shocked that his dreams are really clear and precise, he can remember them perfectly. It's just that, he can't see the person, but he can feel them and...it feels nice. He likes the feeling of holding someone close to him, and for some reason, it awfully reminds him of Donghyuck. 

 

And he's annoyed. 

 

Everything just reminds him of Donghyuck and he doesn't know why. Even when he was buying a strawberry popsicle on his way back home from uni one time, he remembered Donghyuck because he wore a pastel hoodie with the same color the last day and Mark thought he looked so cuddly and adorable and just - huggable, he had to stop a squeal from coming out by stuffing a bread on his mouth and let's just say that didn't end well from the way he almost died from choking.

 

He may be exaggerating but he did choked on his bread. 

 

And sometimes, Mark finds himself hoping, the guilt slowly creeping up his chest and the thought of betrayal lingering somewhere in his thoughts, for them not to meet their soulmates. 

 

He knows it's impossible, really, but he doesn't know if he can give the love that his soulmate needs. Mark sighs, he hasn't even met his soulmate yet he's already cheating. 

 

/Is this even considered cheating?/ Mark thinks. /I mean, I'm just secretly admiring someone and it's not like he likes me back too...ouch./

 

Mark sleeps that night with a heavy heart and for some reason he dreams of someone's hand writing. 

 

~

 

Donghyuck stares at his mark, confusion written all over his face. He's really trying so hard to stay positive nowadays with the amount of school works and now that he has actual free time, his soulmate mark is what stresses him out. He sighs, can't he just have one peaceful day? 

 

"You're lucky you still don't have your soulmate mark." Donghyuck pouts, hugging a pillow to his chest. "This makes me feel like I'm destined to myself, besides my surname is Lee and I don't know but it makes perfect sense."

 

Jaemin gives him a weird look, "is that even possible?" 

 

"Hey, how long have you had your mark?" Renjun asks. "I've seen on the internet something about soulmates meeting each other a few years after they got their mark."

 

Donghyuck's eyes went wide, "that long?!"

 

Renjun nods, he pats his distraught friend's back and gives him a hug. He kinda feels sad for him because he looks so downcast and dejected and it's so different from the usual happy and smiling Donghyuck that he knows. 

 

Although Renjun gets pretty annoyed when Donghyuck gets uncontrollable /some/times, he's still one of his best friends and it sucks seeing their sunshine being all gloomy and sad. 

 

"Hey Jeno, what's Mark's surname?" Jaemin asks all of a sudden. 

 

"Why are you asking?" Jeno says, looking up from his phone. Donghyuck is feeling too down to participate in his friends' conversation so he continues watching them with a pout. 

 

"Just answer me, okay. I have a theory to confirm."

 

Jeno makes a face, "uh, okay. We have the same surname. It's Lee. Mark Lee."

 

As if on cue, Jaemin and Renjun slowly turned their heads and looked at each other. There's this telepathic thing going on between them because they know they are thinking about the same thing and it's just...brilliant. 

 

A wicked smile appears on their faces. This is going to be /fun/.

 

~

 

It's his second month back in Seoul. He hears a calming and peaceful voice of someone singing in his dreams and Mark has never felt so alive.

 

"I don't know, man," He rants to Jeno one day. "It just feels so real, I'm not even kidding. Like you know those 8D audios? That's how I hear it in my dreams. It feels like my soulmate is singing me to sleep everytime and I don't know if I should be concerned about it."

 

Jeno gives him a concerned look. "Are you sure you're not going crazy? I mean, you're hearing voices already!"

 

"That's my concern!"

 

"Also I don't think I am the right person you need to talk to, you should be talking to Hyuck about your soulmate problems because I'm sure I wouldn't be of any help to you. Sorry, dear cousin." Jeno successfully pushes his poor cousin out of the room and with a smile, he closes the door at his face. 

 

"Hey!" Mark pounds at the door. "I'm still older than you, Lee Jeno! Let me in! I'm not done ranting yet!" 

 

"I told you to talk to Hyuck!" 

 

He pauses. Should he really talk to him though? He hasn't seen the younger the whole day and now that he noticed it, Donghyuck has been quiet these past few days and it's unusual. 

 

He misses him too. 

 

They weren't able to hang out a lot because it was hell week this past month in college and everything just piled up. He wants to talk to him sometimes but he sees Donghyuck studying and he doesn't want to bother him because God knows how hard it is to concentrate while studying. 

 

There's something that draws him closer to the tanned guy and he doesn't know if it's creepy or cheesy. Or like both. 

 

Mustering enough self courage, Mark knocks at Donghyuck's bedroom door. He taps his feet unconsciously, a habit he does when he feels anxious for some reason. 

 

Donghyuck opens the door. "Oh, Mark hyung. It's you." He smiles and opens the door wider to let him in. "I thought you went out."

 

"Oh, I remember something." He looks at the younger, eyes twinkling in amusement. "I recall Renjun telling me that you sing, can I hear it?" 

 

"Wow." Donghyuck laughs, "did you came in here just to hear me sing?"

 

Mark raised his eyebrows and smiled. 

 

And literally, Donghyuck's brain went static. /Oh my God/ He thinks. /That smile is dangerous./

 

"How many people have fallen in love with your smile?" 

 

.. 

.. 

.. 

 

Mark blinks. 

 

Donghyuck blinks back. 

 

"W-what?" Mark muttered. Did Donghyuck just really said that or was his brain really messed up now? 

 

"Your smile is beautiful." Donghyuck mumbles. 

 

It took Donghyuck three whole seconds of awkwardness to process what he just said, and when he did realized his mistake, he ends up covering his mouth in shock. Sometimes his mouth and brain aren't really in sync and then things like this happens and just, ugh. 

 

And worse, in front of his crush. 

 

"I-i mean," Donghyuck can't think of an excuse all of a sudden. "What I mean is..it w-was...a joke, yeah, I'm just joking you Mark hyung." He ends up scratching the back of his neck out of nervousness. 

 

"Yeah, right." Mark nods slowly. He tries to catch Donghyuck's eyes but the younger keeps on avoiding his stare. "Do you mean it though? That I have a beautiful smile?"

 

Okay, look. Donghyuck is a pretty confident person. It's very unlikely of him to be shy and conscious of his actions but Mark seeing him like this makes his heart grow fonder for him a bit more. He thinks he's so adorable like this; blushing and stumbling over his words. 

 

It's times like these that makes Mark feel like Donghyuck is his real soulmate. There's just something special whenever he's with him; there's a feeling of comfort, excitement and the younger inspires him so much that there's a shit ton of poems and lyrics about him on Mark's secret journal. 

 

"Lee Donghyuck," he calls. Mark's not a risk taker; he prefers to stay in the comfort of his own space; he's what you call a 'wallflower'; but God, he's so willing to risk for this one guy sitting in front of him right now. 

 

"What if you're actually my soulmate?"

 

Total silence. Donghyuck ends up staring and gawking at Mark. 

 

To say that Donghyuck is surprised is an understatement. He literally went '???' when Mark said that. 

 

It's not like he doesn't like it, he actually love the idea of being Mark's soulmate. But of course, he doesn't want to get his hopes up. There's millions of people with the surname Lee around the world, the chance of Mark being his soulmate is just a strong 0.1%.

 

Unconsciously, he looks at his wrist to look at his mark. 

 

He finds nothing. 

 

Donghyuck's eyes widened in shock. 

 

His mark disappeared. Literally nothing. 

 

Mark noticed the sudden change of his reaction. "Are you mad? I was just joking, Hyuck. I'm sorry!" He apologizes frantically. 

 

"My mark," Donghyuck swallows the lump in his throat. Everything looks a bit blurry now. "It disappeared."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to miss ot7dream :-(( +++ happy birthday kun!! love u 💗 ++ jongin and jennie dating wHAT
> 
> shameless plug coming through: follow me on Twitter and let's scream about our idols together @hyuckiethereal 🖤


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it has been a month since I last updated :( I'm sorry!! How have you all been?

It has been three days since Donghyuck's soulmate mark randomly disappearing and honestly, he hasn't stopped over thinking ever since. He can't help but to think that something bad happened to whoever he's destined to.

 

"Did the soulmate god suddenly changed his mind and thought 'oh wait, let's remove Donghyuck's mark! I suddenly don't want him to have a soulmate anymore!'?" He asks out of the blue.

 

His friends all looked at him, tired of seeing their dear friend moping around. He hasn't been his usual self lately. This soulmate thingy really affected him and although he tries not to think too much about it, he can't help but wonder what the fuck happened to his mark. He doesn't recall his Johnny hyung and Jisung mentioning something about their marks disappear all of a sudden.

 

Jaemin sighs, he can't bear to watch this stupidity in front of him. "That's it! I'm done!"

 

Renjun looks at him worriedly, "hey, let him figure it out." He then smiles to Donghyuck and gives him a reassuring smile, "don't mind Jaemin, he's being crazy again."

 

Donghyuck raises his brow, looking at his friends strangely. His friends are acting weird again. It's not like they're normal but they're being weirdly /weird/ for some reason.

 

It started that day when Donghyuck complained to them about him still not meeting his goddamn soulmate. He feels like these three are up to something and usually, whenever those three team up, it doesn't result to good situations.

 

"What do I need to figure out?" Donghyuck asks, puzzled. He's really confused. What are his friends talking about?

 

"I told you, you can have a huge board reading 'Mark Lee and Lee Donghyuck are soulmates!' and they both still wouldn't get it. " Jaemin states. His hand flies up to Donghyuck's shoulders and shakes his poor friend. "Do you finally get what we're trying to say?"

 

"Uhm, first of all, stop shaking me. Second, what are you talking about? Mark? My soulmate? Stop joking me."

 

He hears Jaemin sigh very loudly, turning to Renjun and said something that Donghyuck wasn't able to hear because there's something he suddenly remembered.

 

 _"What_ if _you're actually my soulmate?"_

 

_"What if you're actually my soulmate?"_

 

_"What if you're actually my soulmate?"_

 

Now that he remembers what Mark told him the last time, it makes his heart flutter. He wasn't able to think about it because he has just lost his mark, and he was too sad and upset that he literally forgot about it.

 

What made Mark think that?

 

He looks at his wrist again, seeing nothing on where his soulmate mark used to be. He wonders if Mark lost his too.

 

"Hey," Jeno turns to the two. "Why don't we give Hyuck some time and space to think about it? I'm sure he'll start to figure it out soon." Jeno smiles at him and mutters a 'good luck' before heading out to his own room.

 

Jaemin rubs his back, "I'll be here if you're still confused, I'm willing to give you a heads up, okay?"

 

Renjun was the last to exit his room, he held Donghyuck's hand in his and squeezed it, one of Renjun's ways to assure him whenever he feels that the younger is upset or generally, not feeling well.

 

"If I were you, I'd get to know Mark more, find out what he's into, what he likes and just, random infos about him. I know that sounds creepy but I can definitely assure you it's going to be worth it."

 

He hears Jaemin shout a 'fighting, Hyuck!' before Renjun closed the door to his room.

 

He smiles, he's really thankful for his friends because if they weren't there, Donghyuck's sure he'd be twice as stressed than he is now.

 

Sitting alone in his bed, Donghyuck grabs his journal and quickly flicks through the pages to go to his last journal entry. It was written four days ago, a day before his mark disappeared. There's still a feeling of sadness whenever he remembers that he lost his mark, but he guesses he'd just have to deal with it momentarily.

 

_10.23.18._

_Journal #15_

_My dreams are becoming clearer but as they get clearer, they become more confusing. I feel like I'm building a puzzle with unmatched pieces._

_There's the guy, again, of course. His back is still facing me, nothing new but at least he's strumming something in his guitar while humming with it. I can't really determine what song he's humming to but for some reason my heart feels really happy hearing him play the guitar?? Is that weird??_

_Oh! I also remembered the guy wearing a green hoodie! When can I meet him tho >.<_

_Donghyuck_

 

He scans through the pages again, reading some of his journal entries.

 

_9.30.18_

_Journal #12_

_What the fuck did I just dreamt of. Okay so I dreamt of burnt food???? Literally wtf??? I'm really amused haha, if my soulmate ends up not knowing how to cook then I'd definitely teach him!! That was such a weird dream lol._

_/Donghyuck_

 

_9.12.18_

_Journal #10_

_Scattered papers. Broken pencil. Messy handwriting. Cup of milk. The sound of someone's laughter._

_Yep, that's what my dream has in store for me today. I don't really get my dreams. All that I know is my soulmate is probably someone who likes writing?? Maybe he's into poetry or like, lyric writing. Ohhh maybe he's also into music??_

_Donghyuck_

 

Donghyuck closes the notebook. He's starting to picture Mark as his soulmate in his mind and it makes him feel a bit weird.

 

What if Mark's not his soulmate?

 

And besides, he has yet to prove his friends' theory, but as long as he hasn't proved that Mark is his soulmate, he wouldn't get his hopes high.

 

Besides, it doesn't hurt to try, right?

 

~

 

Donghyuck woke up to the smell of something burning and it instantly makes him stand up from his position in bed in alarm. He runs outside his room, ignoring the fact that his head is dizzy from the sudden motion.

 

"Jeno?" He calls out, walking to their small kitchen. "Are you trying to cook something?"

 

If Donghyuck hasn't just woken up, he would've laughed out loud from the sight.

 

There, in the middle of their kitchen, is Mark standing a few meters away from the pan with a spatula in hand. He's looking worriedly at the questionable thing he's supposed to be 'cooking' and the look of frustration in Mark's face makes the situation more amusing to the tanned boy.

 

When Mark noticed a figure standing at the entrance of their kitchen, he jumps. Like literally jumped and dropping the spatula in shock. Donghyuck takes a few steps towards him and the older closes the stove hastily.

 

"Uh, good morning Hyuck," Mark smiles sheepishly. "What brings you here?" He tries to cover the stove and the burnt food with his body and it took Donghyuck a lot of effort not to giggle.

 

"You don't have to hide that anymore, I kinda saw it already." He smiles, lightly tugging Mark's hoodie to pull him aside. "I woke up from the smell of burnt food, thought Jeno was trying to cook something again but it turns out it's you."

 

"Oh shit. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I just wanted to try cooking and I may or may not have wanted to cook you breakfast but like that's beside the point and yeah..sorry again, Hyuck."

 

Mark pinches his arm. He almost discreetly confessed the slight feelings he has for his cousin's roommate slash his close friend. Things will turn out really awkward if he hadn't been able to stop his mouth from uttering things that should just be left unsaid.

 

"Ah, no worries. I can definitely teach you how to cook at some time. For now," Donghyuck holds up the carton of milk. "Cereal?"

 

Mark smiles, and it makes Donghyuck's heart warm and he feels this familiar tingly sensation again when the older flashes him his _perfect, adorable, blinding, stunning, beautiful, ether-_  err, uh, he means  _cute_ smile.

 

They sit at the table across each other with this surprisingly calming silence. Donghyuck just gets the feeling of peace whenever he's alone with Mark, no matter what situation they're in, he feels like Mark puts his heart at ease.

 

That sounds very cheesy, Donghyuck thinks.

 

Mark clears his throat, "what happened to your soulmate mark? Did it finally show up again?"

 

Donghyuck sighs then shakes his head, "nope."

 

Something tugs at Mark's heart. His heart seems to not like the fact that he may not be Donghyuck's soulmate and also because he's seeing him sad and dejected and not being able to do anything to lift his spirits up a bit.

 

 _Oh God._ A sudden realization fills his mind and it makes Mark play with the cereals floating on his bowl. _My feelings for him are actually serious. It's not just a simple crush anymore._

 

The older stares at the tanned guy in front of him, he notices the change in his aura, the downcast look in his eyes and even the way he eats become very noticeable right now.

 

Soon enough, after a few talks and random moments of silence, they finish eating and cleaning up the dishes. Mark hesitates to approach Donghyuck, who is now in his way back to his own room.

 

Mark feels and looks stupid following his roommate silently, tiptoeing behind him.

 

Donghyuck turns around all of a sudden, confusion all over his face. "...What are you doing?"

 

"Uh.." Mark scratches his ear. "Well, uhm..do you want to hear me play the guitar?"

 

God, this is the only time that he feels nervous to play the guitar. He's confident with his skills, sure. But playing it in front of the guy he likes? Probably not.

 

But Mark's heart falters a bit more when he sees the smile Donghyuck gave him. It's brighter and much, much warmer than the actual sun. There's that feeling again of warmth again and it's very pleasant and nice. He just ignores the fact that he only feels that whenever he's with Donghyuck, not with anyone else and just him.

 

"Sure! You should let me see your skills and I'll judge whether you're really good or not." Donghyuck wiggles his eyebrows. "I can sing for you, if you want."

 

The smile that Mark gave Donghyuck is as amazing as a sky full of stars, the younger feels light headed with all the thoughts going around his head right now.

 

Donghyuck even wonders how it is possible for Mark to be able to look that attractive when he's just wearing his worn out green hoodie.

 

Mark strums the first few notes in his acoustic guitar, his eyes involuntarily closing and a small smile appearing on his face. Playing the guitar has always relived his stress or whatever hardship he's going through, and now that he's here with Donghyuck, it adds another good memory to his mind.

 

And now, with Donghyuck singing and Mark playing the guitar, there's something that builds up more just than the harmony of the two of them.

 

Somewhere along the lines that Donghyuck sings, Mark is silently hoping, wishing for him to be his soulmate. Right now, he can't bear the thought of being destined to someone else when he has Lee Donghyuck by his side. Maybe he fell too fast, too hard; too deep that he's already lost in the other's eyes.

 

The song finishes with the two of them smiling at each other, high fives and sweet compliments being shared between the two of them.

 

What they doesn't notice though, is Mark's soulmate mark, slowly fading away from his wrist.

 

~

 

It was only when Donghyuck was laying down in his bed, replaying all the scenes from today, when a thought popped in his head and in a second, he stood up so fast and searched frantically for his journal.

 

_10.23.18._

_Journal #15_

_My dreams are becoming clearer but as they get clearer, they become more confusing. I feel like I'm building a puzzle with unmatched pieces._

_There's the guy, again, of course. His back is still facing me, nothing new but at least he's strumming something in his guitar while humming with it. I can't really determine what song he's humming to but for some reason my heart feels really happy hearing him play the guitar?? Is that weird??_

_Oh! I also remembered the guy wearing a green hoodie! When can I meet him tho >.< _

_Donghyuck_

 

 _Oh my God,_ Donghyuck's hand found its way to his chest, his heart beating abnormally fast. He only realizes it now.

 

The guitar playing.

 

The green hoodie that Mark was wearing.

 

Bingo.

 

~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, the fourth and last chapter will be posted soon! Please bear with me :>> thanks ❤
> 
> Please let me know if you liked it!! I'd really appreciate it if you leave a comment hehe ❤ ++ iM A NEW MONBEBE HELLO HMU ON TWITTER @hyuckiethereal ❤❤


	4. Four | Final

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter!! Thank you for bearing with me and a big thank you to everyone who took the time to read this. 💘

Mark unconsciously taps the blue pen on his desk, confusion and other emotions he can't decipher are slowly consuming his mind. He stares at his handwriting, eyes darting from word per word. He wonders if he really wrote those, or was he just in a trance this whole time?

 

His soulmate mark disappeared the other day, and although he didn't freaked out and was even surprisingly calm the whole time, it doesn't mean that he's not thinking about it. Everytime he looks at his wrist, he feels like there's something missing and there's an unfamiliar tinge of pain in his chest that he feels but chooses to ignore.

 

He doesn't notice Jeno standing in his room's doorway and has been calling him thrice already, so when his cousin throws at him the nearest item he can grab, Jeno almost fell on the floor laughing with the pure shock and horror on Mark's face. 

 

"Hey! What was that all about?" Mark asked, eyebrows knitting in curiosity. He looked at the clock hanging above his desk and his eyes bulged open to see that it's already 6:00 in the evening, meaning he has been staring at his journal for like, 45 minutes? 

 

"What are you thinking about?" Jeno asks. He closed the door behind him and sat on Mark's bed and grabbed the fluffy pillow near him. 

 

"Nothing much," The older blinks. "Something's just off lately."

 

Jeno raises his brow, "like what?" 

 

Mark looks up to stare at the younger. There's a hint of hesitation showing in his eyes. He's not sure if he can tell his problems to him because he's still the older one here. He doesn't want to pester the younger with his own problems because if there's someone who has to give some kind of support, it's usually the older one. 

 

"Hey," Jeno raises his arm to touch Mark's arm gently. "You know you can tell me anything, right? I'm not that good with giving advices but I can listen to you."

 

Mark sighs. 

 

"Right," The older clasps both his hands with the utmost energy left in his body. "I lost my soulmate mark."

 

Jeno nods involuntarily, not quite taking in what his cousin had just said. "Yeah, you lost your soulmate mar- what?! You lost your soulmate mark too?!"

 

Mark nods. He feels that slight tinge of pain again and it probably looks like he's trying not to cry right now with his face contorted in some way. 

 

The look on his cousin's face tells him that he's also worried too. "Since when?"

 

"I'm not sure. I think the day before yesterday? It was really random."

 

There's a moment of silence between the two of them until Jeno stands up all of a sudden, surprising Mark. The younger looks at his older cousin and there's a slight smirk showing on his face. 

 

"Hey, I'm betting ₩10,000 that I can figure out who's your soulmate faster than you." The smile that Jeno has on his face makes Mark weirdly nervous and before Mark gets to answer him, he runs away from his room with a laugh. 

 

Weird. 

 

~ 

 

Mark dreams of someone's voice again. And finally, _finally_ , he can now tell who is the owner of the voice he's been hearing ever since. 

 

His heart soars from the happiness he's feeling, it's a beautiful experience. God, he's so in love and it's such a wonderful thing. 

 

A smile forms on his face. It's Donghyuck. 

 

~

 

Donghyuck woke up in a strangely good mood today. He had the most relaxing sleep he's had for weeks and everything just feels lighter to him now. Even Jeno looked at him weirdly with how he's almost skipping his way throughout the kitchen that morning. 

 

"What's gotten into you, Hyuck? You look very happy." Jeno mumbles, eyes still laced with sleepiness. 

 

Donghyuck shrugs, setting his own bowl of breakfast across the older. "I don't know. I just feel like today's a really good day."

 

Everything's actually going great today. Well, besides from the fact that Mark is staying over at his brother's house and Donghyuck hasn't seen him for like, two days, still, everything's going great and he's hoping that all of this will continue. 

 

_"So, when will you be back?" Donghyuck tries to hide any trace of loneliness in his voice. He looks over at Mark who's packing his backpack earnestly, his forehead scrunched in concentration._

_The older looks up at him, "in five days, I think? My brother is telling me to stay longer though."_

_"Maybe he really missed you that much that's why he wants you stay longer."_

_"Yeah," Mark nods. "We haven't seen each other for months so I totally understand."_

_Donghyuck watches him as he packed the last of his things and zipped his bag. Wow, they are not even a couple but the younger is feeling very...down and dejected that he's not going to see Mark for days. It makes his heart swell with sadness and it's probably showing on his face because the next thing he knows, Mark is kneeling in front of him asking if he's alright._

_Donghyuck just nods, dumbfounded. "Yeah, I'm good. Just spacing out."_

_"You sure?"_

_Maybe it's the sincerity of the moment or their hearts beating at the same time, that Donghyuck finds himself drawn to the man in front of him. He looks at Mark with the utmost adoration; lets himself fall deeper. It's an unknown world that he's willing to wander; it's dark, dangerous even. But if it's Mark waiting for him at the end of all the darkness, then, he's more than willing to go through it._

 

He's absentmindedly playing with his hair when he noticed _it_. He almost missed it, if he weren't paying attention enough and seeing it almost made him shriek. The sudden burst of excitement, happiness and nervousness are making him feel all tingly and weird in such a good way. It's so strange. 

 

On his wrist is his soulmate mark, now replaced with his soul mate's initials. His heart pounds from his chest upon seeing the letters, 'ML', marked on his wrist. 

 

It makes him feel relieved. Relieved from the thought that finally, he's not going to be all alone in this big and lonely world. He's actually destined to someone and-

 

Wait. 

 

Realization dawns on him. He can't believe it. All this time, all this fucking time, he's being stupid. They're being stupid. God, how come he didn't figured it out sooner? 

 

Donghyuck grabs his journal and reads through it again, confirming his suspicions and almost hitting his head on the wall because what the fuck, was I really this stupid before? How did he not noticed everything? 

 

Before he can even run to Jeno's room to tell his best friend that finally, he figured out who his soul mate is, his phone rang, making him jump from surprise. 

 

Without looking and clutching his chest on one hand, he answers the call. "Yeah?"

 

"Lee Donghyuck."

 

Donghyuck failed to function properly after hearing his voice. It's probably the realization that makes him act like this; the moment of realization that all throughout this time, destiny already made a way for them to meet. They were destined to meet; destined to be a part of each other's lives. It's already written in the cluster of stars and written at the lines on their hands. They're meant to be. 

 

"Mark Lee." He's whispering, and he doesn't know why. "Our soulm-"

 

Mark shushed him, shutting Donghyuck up. "Don't. Just..don't say it, yet. When I get back home, let's..let's say it there. Can you wait for me?"

 

The sincerity in Mark's voice fills Donghyuck's heart with so much adoration and love that he finds himself nodding, "yes, I'll wait for you Mark."

 

Maybe it's a soulmate thing, or maybe he's already in love with the older for a long time now that he just feels it - he can hear his smile through his voice and now, he understands why people say that falling in love is beautiful. It's a different kind of beautiful. It's the kind of beauty that you really have to look for, you have to have patience because otherwise, you won't be able to see the beauty in love. You have to open your heart, make it listen and reach out your hand to connect. 

 

"Hyuck, I..." He hears Mark trail off on the other line. To say that the younger was not anticipating that Mark will say those three words to him was a big, fat lie. The next thing he hears is Mark clearing his throat and he can imagine him scratching the back of his neck out of nervousness. "I'll see you in two days, Hyuck. I...miss you."

 

Before he even gets the chance to reply, the call already ended and the only thing he can hear is the sound of the bleeping of his phone. 

 

Donghyuck ends up smiling. His soulmate is so cute. 

 

~

 

Jaemin smirks annoyingly at him, his arms crossed and eyes never leaving Donghyuck. "See, I told you. Mark hyung is your soulmate."

 

"Okay, first of all, if you were in my position, you'd be as stupid as me," Donghyuck ignored Jaemin's protests, his hand flying up to hit his friend on the back. "Secondly, everything was really confusing. You can't blame me."

 

"How was it confusing?" Right now, Jaemin is straight up whining already. "We literally told you all the clues but you two were so stupid to figure it out."

 

Donghyuck looks at him, offended. 

 

"Wow, thanks for that. That's really motivating."

 

Jaemin makes a face at him before facing Jeno who is currently having fun watching his friends banter in front of him. "When's Mark hyung getting here? I can't wait to see these two love birds finally meet." 

 

"He texted me an hour ago so he's probably here by any minute now." Jeno answers, smiling at Donghyuck because he can see the tanned boy getting nervous at the mere mention of Mark arriving at any minute. Renjun is trying hard to calm Donghyuck down because he knows Donghyuck plus nerves is not a really good combination. Trust him, he knows. (The last time he remembers is Donghyuck throwing up all over the place because of nervousness and he doesn't want to repeat that scene again, thanks, he just ate.) 

 

Renjun turns to the younger boy, "are you nervous?

 

Donghyuck chews on his bottom lip, he also shakes his legs unconsciously out of habit while looking at Renjun. "Yeah, I am."

 

"Mark hyung may act all cool and suave when he comes here but I can definitely assure you that he's not, he's probably more nervous than you, Hyuck." Jeno supplies thoughtfully. "I actually think you'd be the calmer one between the two of you, to be honest."

 

"What? Donghyuck the calm one? I beg your pardon, Jeno." Jaemin argues. "Donghyuck and the word calm cannot be in one sentence."

 

Donghyuck should be laughing by now, but his phone vibrating is telling him otherwise. He just received a message. From Mark. 

 

/hey, hyuck. I'm here already/

/I'll see u in three/

 

"Mark hyung just texted me." 

 

His friends all stopped what they were doing and instantly turned their heads to him. If he wasn't feeling nauseated from nervousness right now, he'd be laughing out loud from the look on their faces. They all look like they were caught stealing something, with Jeno gaping his mouth like a fish, Renjun blinking continuously and Jaemin just looks dumbfounded. 

 

"Alright! This is it, Lee Donghyuck! You're finally gonna meet your soulmate! I'm so happy for you!" Jaemin shrieks, shaking the poor boy with so much force that he ends up lying on the bed. They end up throwing pillows at Donghyuck as a form of 'celebration' until he was all red from laughing so much. 

 

Maybe they were making too much noise that they didn't notice the door of Donghyuck's room opening, revealing Mark, who is now staring at them with a small smile on his face. He looks healthier, Donghyuck notes, he looks more lively and fluffy now than when he saw him last two weeks ago. 

 

"Hi." Mark mutters, eyes darting from one boy to another, trying to take in what was happening before he came. "I see you guys are having fun."

 

"Yeah," Jeno chuckles and puts the pillow back on the bed. "How was your trip? Did you have fun?" 

 

Mark takes off his cap, "yeah. My brother missed me so much and he made me eat a lot, said I was too skinny." 

 

Renjun tries not to gag. These two, clearly referring to Donghyuck and Mark, are so painful to watch he can't even stand being in the same room as them right now. It's so...nauseating to see the two of them trying to catch each other's gazes just to look away when they /actually/ end up looking at the other. It's so cringey. And very unlikely of the two. Maybe this is what love is really like, huh? Renjun thinks. 

 

Jaemin pulls at Jeno's sleeves harshly and whispers, "we should leave." 

 

Renjun clears his throat, "we're going to try the newest flavor at the ice cream shop, want us to get you guys something?" He says, standing up from his seat and grabbing his wallet on the process. 

 

Donghyuck raises his brow, "is this your treat or...?"

 

"No, no," Mark quickly interjects. "Let me treat you ice cream this time. I mean..I'm the oldest and uh, you've been a really great help to us so yeah..." He trails off, looking at the distance because he suddenly feels mushy and weird. He hands his wallet to Jeno, "you can buy any ice cream you want. Just please don't leave me bankrupt."

 

Jaemin's eyes lit up, "that's great! We'll bring some snacks too then let's watch a movie or something later."

 

After a quick goodbye, the three left the room, leaving Donghyuck and Mark alone. They were facing opposite sides of the room and and for the first time ever, Donghyuck has never felt so silent in his life ever. 

 

"Hyuck.." 

 

Donghyuck almost gave himself whiplash from turning his head so fast to the older, "yeah?"

 

Mark chuckles, "please tell me why we're so awkward?" 

 

Donghyuck grins sheepishly, playing with his fingers out of habit. "Probably because we just knew we were actually each other's soulmates and now we don't know how to interact with one another and oh my God, what am I even saying."

 

The older stands up, taking the initiative to end this awkward situation between his soulmate and him. He doesn't want to waste any moment now that he knows Donghyuck is his soulmate, all he wants to do is to cherish all of the memories they have together. And it starts now. 

 

Mark momentarily thinks when did he became sappy like this because it doesn't sound like him. Oh well. 

 

"We were really destined to meet, huh?" 

 

Donghyuck looks up at him to find the most genuine smile he's ever seen on Mark adorning his face. It makes his heart fill with joy and love and gosh, he doesn't want to sound like a love strucked teenager but guess what he is? Definitely a love strucked teenager. 

 

"I don't want to sound too emotional but I'm really happy you are my soulmate Mark hyung." The younger replies, his checks heating up in embarrassment. 

 

Mark ends up sitting beside him, their bodies so close that they end up feeling each other's body heat. It's so comfortable and calming to be in one another's presence like this, Mark thinks. He's so glad he was able to experience it early like this. 

 

Slowly, Mark closes the gap between their hands and held Donghyuck's hand carefully to his. The feeling is indescribable. It's euphoric - to finally know that you're not alone in this big and lonely world, to know that love has found its way into your hearts and now the two of you are there, sharing the same beats of your hearts. 

 

They feel it. The connection. The relief of knowing that they're destined together. And in such a young age, they finally met each other to spend their growing days together.

 

A sudden thought appears in Donghyuck's mind, disturbing the peaceful atmosphere that they share. He tries not to laugh about it, but Mark notices his shoulders shaking so he has no choice but to say it. 

 

"Remember that morning when you tried cooking something but you end up burning the food?" Mark nods, his eyebrows scrunched. "I actually dreamt of that. I didn't knew you were such a bad cook!"

 

"Oh wow. Ten minutes ago we were just so awkward with each other and now you're back to teasing me?" Mark says, pinching Donghyuck on the nose lightly and ignoring his small noise of protest. "But actually though, I can't really cook. And I dreamt of omelettes, by the way. Clearly, my dreams were telling me that you make the best omelettes."

 

"Wait. You write your dreams in a notebook too, right? Why don't we just snap our note books together and read our dreams about one another?" The younger suggests, clasping his hands together. 

 

"Well," Mark coughs to hide an incoming blush on his face. "Let's do that next time, yeah? I have a gut feeling that Jaemin and the others will arrive soo-"

 

He wasn't able to finish what he's saying with the door bursting wide open and revealing their three friends with plastic bags at hand. 

 

"I told you they will hold hands." Jeno smirks, holding out his palm. "Give me my money."

 

"Wow, you guys really did a bet on us." Donghyuck fake gasps, his free hand flying up to cradle his chest. 

 

Jaemin shrugs, "I just bet that you guys will be kissing as we arrive, guess I'm wrong."

 

"It's too early for a kiss though, Jaemin. But we'll definitely get to that - after a few years." Mark laughs, playing along with their friends. 

 

Soon, they are all huddled on the living room watching a movie, with Donghyuck and Mark cuddling on the couch. Their friends are all seated on the floor, discussing all about the last scene. 

 

Donghyuck sees the older's soulmate mark and in a hushed voice, he whispers. "LDH..Lee Donghyuck..wow, I'm really your soulmate."

 

"You still can't believe it?"

 

He shrugs, "I don't know. It just feels a bit surreal."

 

Mark holds Donghyuck closer to him. He's his warmth and light and he's Donghyuck's strength. They complement each other in so many perfect ways and fill each other's spaces and they are really, made for each other. 

 

They still have a long way to go, hardships to conquer and happy memories to spend, but one thing that Mark and Donghyuck is definitely sure of, they will always cherish the love that they share together and grow old in one another's arms. 

 

•••

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AGAIN, THANK YOU EVERYONE!! I appreciate all of your comments and kudos ❣ I may start a new work soon btw and I hope u are having a good day! ++ follow me on twitter @hyuckiethereal :>>>


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